Fabiana imbricata Alba

The Fabiana imbricata 'Alba' is a medium-sized shrub with an irregular habit, giving it a slightly wild appearance. Resembling a tree heather, it produces a highly ornamental flowering in spring, composed of a myriad of small elongated and tubular flowers that form a sleeve around the branches. Its evergreen foliage is made of small scales and takes on a beautiful bright green colour. It is easy to grow in mild climates and requires well-drained soil, preferably non-calcareous, and a sunny location to thrive.

Although resembling heathers, Fabiana is not a heath family plant but a nightshade family plant. This family includes aubergines, potatoes, and many ornamental plants, such as Brugmansia with its long trumpet-shaped flowers or the classic Petunia. There are about twenty species of Fabiana, native to the temperate regions of South America, from Bolivia and Chile to Patagonia. The plant was named in honor of Francisco Fabiana y Puero, an 18th-century Spanish archbishop who encouraged the study of plants. Locally, it is called pichi pichi.
Fabiana imbricata is native to the Andes of Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. It forms a highly branched shrub with upright branches, reaching a height of 1 to 2 metres and a similar width. In its natural habitat, the plant produces flowers from white to lavender blue. It is used locally as a medicinal plant to treat gallstones and cystitis; an essential oil is extracted from it.
As its name suggests, the 'Alba' variety is a form with white flowers (albus in Latin). If left to its own devices, the shrub can reach a height and width of 1.80 to 2 metres but can easily be kept at 1.50 metres if necessary through light annual pruning after flowering. Dense and branched, it produces many slightly disordered branches, eventually giving the plant a somewhat irregular dome-like appearance. The branches are covered with small, tightly packed, slender shoots, 15 to 25 mm long. These shoots are covered with small pointed, triangular, scale-like leaves, 2 to 5 mm long, arranged alternately and overlapping. In spring, from May onwards, each of these shoots produces a pure white flower, formed by fused petals that form a tube that slightly widens towards the end. Each flower is solitary, but their arrangement around the branches for about thirty centimetres gives the impression of a long cluster of flowers.

This evergreen shrub, well adapted to mild coastal climates and tolerant of Mediterranean conditions, is little known but deserves to be planted more frequently. Its slightly wild appearance allows it to be planted in natural-style gardens and mixed borders. You can associate it with Grevillea juniperina, an Australian evergreen shrub with dark green foliage and long-lasting clusters of bright red flowers. The Acacia pravissima, a mimosa with curious grey-green triangular foliage and abundant lemon-yellow fragrant flowers in spring, will also be a good companion for your Fabiana. And to add a touch of indulgence to your scene, nothing beats a Feijoa like Acca sellowiana 'Gemini', whose stunning red and white bicoloured flowers will later delight you with its exotic-flavoured green fruits.